Lunch box with vacuum containers



March 16, 1954 w KESSELL, JR 2,672,232

LUNCH BOX WITH VACUUM CONTAINERS Filed July 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 WILFRED KESSELL JR.

3rmeutor March 16, 1954 KESSELL, JR 2,672,232

LUNCH BOX WITH VACUUM CONTAINERS Filed July 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 3 84 w: LFRED KESS'ELL JR.

3nventor attornegs Patented Mar. 16, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT "0F F ICE LUNCHv BOX WITH VACUUMCONTA'INERS Wilfred Kessell, J12, seattlefi'waish.

Application July 21, 1950, Serial No. 175,053

2 Claims.

My invention relates to a lunch box having a plurality of vacuum containers for liquid and solid foods. The lunch box has a lower and upper compartment, hingedly connected together, the upper compartment containing a vacuum container for liquids and the lower compartment containing vacuum containers for other foods.

A great number of laborers carry their lunch five days a week, year after year. These lunches are usually composed of neither hot nor chilled foods and are composed mostly or" sandwiches, fruit and the like, items that become quite tiresome to the worker. The tendency of the laborer is to eat too little and the worker does not enjoy the food. It is recognized by dieticians today that the worker is not as eficient at his job if he has too little to eat or has not enjoyed his meal and that various gastric troubles may be caused by such conditions. Of course, the housewife finds it difiicult to provide a balanced diet with the limitations of food that may be put in a lunch box. Some companies have endeavored to solve the problem of lunches by company cafeterias, realizing that more production could be obtained from the worker having a proper lunch.

For many years there have been manufactured lunch boxes with separable Thermos bottles carried in the upper half of the lunch bonadapted for the transportation of cooled or heated liquids. This item contributed much to the tastiness of the lunch; but, of course, did not take care of the solid foods in the lunch. In recent years there has been some development in providing" Thermos containers for solid foods in lunch boxes. These devices have been largely confined to adapting to such use, the style'of lunch boxes before mentioned, with a separable Thermos carried in the upper half of the lunch box. These boxes are of little width, and of considerable length and height. I

My lunch box is especially designed for the transportation of solid and-liquid foods, with various improvements in the shape of the containers, in better utilization of space, concerning the problem of breakage, in the adaption of the box for the eating of food therefrom; and with due respect to other utilitarian and aesthetic considerations.

An object of my invention is to provide a lunch box particularly adapted for the transportation, in vacuum containers, of various liquid and solid foods in heated or chilled state.

It is an object ofmy invention to devise means '2 of securing vacuum containers in a lunch box and protecting the container from breakage.

Another object is to provide Thermos containers for solid. foods of such shape to accommodate many common solid foods and adapted for eating directly out of such containers, there being means for adequately sealing the containers by two configured rubber gaskets. A further object is to construct a Thermos container for liquids especially designed for use in a lunch box and as an integral part thereof.

Manufacturers are becoming more conscious of the art of industrial designing in providing articles of manufacture with improved appearance and particular adaptation for the needs of the specific object as to the conservation of space, economy of manufacture and convenience of the user, so it is an important object of my invention to devise a lunch box with the most practical construction of its housing and the compartments therein in view of utilitarian and aesthetic considerations and with regard to ease and economy of manufacture.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the description and disclosure in the drawings, or may be comprehended or are inherent in the device.

-- In the-drawings:

'Figure 1 is a perspective view of a specific embodiment of my lunch box with vacuum containers, the box being in open position;

Figure 21s a perspective view, on a reduced scale, taken in the same sense as Figure l but with the lunch box in closed position;

Figure 3 is a transverse elevational view, partly in section;

1 Figure 4 is a longitudinal elevational view, on an enlarged scale, of the top compartment of my lunch box, the view being. partly in section and with the central portion broken away; and

Figure 5 is an enlarged elevational view, in section andfragmentary, of the means of sealing the food containers in my invention.

Referring more specifically to the depicted structure, my lunchbox has an upper compartment it and a lower compartment 12, the compartments being. joinedtogether at one side by hinges I4. These hinges are preferably of a type which separate as upper compartment It is rotated backward from the position shown in Figure 1, as in this way the liquid container in the upper compartment may be handled separately and: the lower compartment forms a separate tray for-eating from the food containers there. Lower compartment I 2 carries pins I Eat one side and snaps l8 hingedly connected to upper compartment I coact with pins [6 for securing together the compartments. Handle 20 is secured to upper compartment [0. It should'be noted that my lunch box may be carried on its side if handle 20 is instead positioned on the side of the box, the containers being so secured in the lunch box and so sealed that such positioning will harm neither the containers nor food therein.

Two small vacuum containers 30 and one large vacuum container 32 are positioned in lower compartment l2. Of course, other arrangements of containers are possible but this arrangement is believed to be particularly advantageous as providing a large dish for the main course, and two small dishes for vegetable and salad, or salad and dessert. It will be noted that the containers have considerable width and fairly shallow depth thereby being convenient for eating directly therefrom. Each Thermos container has a dish portion as 34, and a lid portion, as 36. Each portion is of double walled construction, the air between walls being partially or wholly evacuated and the walls being preferably silvered, as is typical of Thermos or Dewar containers. The top edge of dish 34 and the adjacent surface of lid 36 carry gasket members, 38 and 40 respectively, the edge of the dish and the surface of the lid having relieved portions 42 and 44 respectively. The portions of gasketmembers 38 and 40, positioned in said relieved portions, are convexly curved transversely, in the preferred form; and relieved portions 52, M are concavely curved transversely, thereby affording substantial gluing surfaces between the relieved portions and the gaskets whereby the gaskets are well secured in place. Adjacent surfaces of gasket members 38 and G) are configured, to insure adequate sealing between the gaskets, as by bead 46 on gasket 40 and groove 48 in gasket 38.

Partitions 5D in lower compartment i2 separate vacuum containers 3!], 32. Resilient pads 52, formed of rubber or similar material, are positioned at the sides and beneath vacuum containers 30, 32, the pads being secured as by gluing to the walls of lower compartment I 2 and to partitions 59. Resilient pads 52 should be flexible enough to absorb the usual jars to which the lunch box may. be subjected, yet the pads should be firm enough to insure that the containers substantially maintain their position when the lunch box is carried. Lids 36 are secured in place by straps 5 5. In the preferred construction, two spaced straps 54 run transversely of lower compartment I2 from side to side over the small vacuum containers 30, and two straps run from one end of lower compartment l2 over large container 32 to a transverse partition 52. Straps 54 have eyes 56 on either end which fasten on books 58 secured to the walls of lower compartment l2 and to the transverse partition 50. Guides, as 60, are secured to longitudinal partition 59 to hold the central portion of straps 54 passing over the small Vacuum containers 30. Straps 54 are preferably formed of a resilient material such as rubber, it being necessary to secure lids 35 firmly in place, as by having some tension on straps 54, yet it being well to have some flexibility to allow the vacuum containers to move slightly during jars and the like. By having straps 54 secured within the lower compartment it will be noted that the vacuum containers are secured in position even if the lunch box is opened, as by accident. Ex-

to guard against breakage of the same.

'4 perience has shown that, with the described form of cushioning and securing means for the Thermos containers, a minimum of breakage of the containers occurs.

Liquid vacuum bottle 10 is positioned within upper compartment [0, the bottle being preferably of Dewar construction with a vacuum space formed by double walls, the walls being silvered. I have departed from the usual construction in lunch boxes of having a separable vacuum container with an attached protective shell and cushioning devices between the shell and container. These separable Thermos bottles are round and are not particularly adapted for lunch boxes. To shape the lunch box to accommodate the separable vacuum bottle, much waste space is necessary, the upper lunch box compartment being designed to accommodate the separable bottle, resulting in a narrow width and considerable height. The lower lunch box compartment is then given a width to match the upper compartment; and, to provide sufficient capacity, the lower compartment has considerable depth. With the narrow deep lower compartment, vacuum food containers must have a similar shape. The best shape for food containers, for convenience of eating out of the same, approximates the shape of the dishes that are used in the home, which are comparatively shallow and of considerable width. With these considerations in mind, my design is to have an elongated Thermos bottle having a transverse outline, generally in the form of a segment of a circle or arc, the edges being rounded. Upper compartment Ill also has a transverse outline genorally in the form of a segment of a circle or arc. With upper compartment [0 and Thermos bottle '15 having this form, these portions accommodate an optimum design of a wide, shallow lower compartment 12, without wasting much space and in a form that may be economically manufactured. It will be noted, with this shape of lunch box, that a very pleasing appearance is presented, a factor of considerable importance as the usual lunch box has poor aesthetic qualities.

Vacuum bottle 70 is supported by plate 12. Resilient pads 14 secured above and below bottle 10, to the top of upper compartment in and to plate 12, serve to position the bottle and protect the same against damage. As will be seen from Figure 4, the resilient pads I4 extend inward at either end of bottle 10 to prevent longitudinal movement of the bottle. Plate '12 is secured by clips '16 pivotally mounted on either side of the plate. Clips 16 are pivoted to the side for removal of plate '12, affording access to bottle 10 for the cleaning of the same.

An accessory compartment 80 is formed in plate 12 at one side of Thermos bottle 10. Door 82, coverin the opening of compartment 80, is connected to plate 12 by a spring-loaded hinge including spring BI and door 82 normally assumes a closed position, Magnet 84 is secured to the upper wall of accessory compartment 80. The magnet is of a strength capable of holding magnetic objects in place in accessory compartment 80. This compartment is quite useful in holding accessories, such as the fork shown in dotted lines in Figure 1, or such as other metallic utensils and metallic salt and pepper shakers.

The open end of bottle 10 is preferably positioned inside the end of upper compartment In,

To iacilitate pouring from the liquid container, spigot 90 is positioned in cork 92, the nozzle and push button control of the spigot extending outside of compartment to and through a threaded opening 94. A combination cup and guard 96 is positioned over spigot 539, the cup having threads 98 to engage with the threads of opening 94. It should be noted that the lunch box does not have to be opened in order to get a drink from bottle 10, which is convenient as often the Worker wants a drink at other than lunch time. Cup 96 has outer threads which will not become contaminated when the cup is used.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of a lunch box with vacuum containers.

Having thus disclosed the invention, I claim:

1. A lunch box with vacuum containers, comprising: an upper compartment; a lower compartment, said compartments being elongated, being of considerable width and shallow depth, said compartments being hingedly connected to gether at one side in a manner permitting separation of the two compartments; the outline of said upper compartment in transverse crosssection being generally in the shape of a segment of a circle, there being a threaded opening in one end of said upper compartment; a plate positioned in the lower portion of said upper compartment and extending from side to side and end to end of said upper compartment; means for securing said plate permitting removal of the plate; said plate having an accessory compartment and a door covering said accessory compartment; means urging said door to a closed position; a magnet secured to the upper portion of said accessory compartment to hold magnetic objects therein; an elongated vacuum bottle positioned above said plate and in said upper compartment, the open end of said bottle being positioned near said threaded opening, the outline of said bottle in transverse crosssection being generally in the shape of a segment of a circle but with rounded edges; a cup having threads on its outer surface positioned in said threaded opening, resilient pads positioned above and below said bottle; a spigot in said bottle; a large, shallow vacuum food container positioned in one end of said lower compartment and two small, shallow vacuum food containers positioned side by side in the other end of said lower compartment; partitions separating said food containers; resilient pads positioned below and at each side of each vacuum food container; pliable, resilient strap means passing over each food container and removably secured to the walls of said lower compartment and to said partitions; said food containers each having a dish portion and a lid portion, each portion being of double-walled, vacuum type construction; the upper edge of said dish portion and the adjacent portion of said lid portion being relieved; a gasket positioned in the relieved portion of each lid and dish, said gaskets being configured so that the gasket of said lid and the gasket of said dish coact for sealing purposes.

2. A lunch box with vacuum containers, comprising: an upper compartment and a lower compartment, said compartments being elongated and being of considerable width and shallow depth, said compartments being hingedly connected together at one side thereof; the outline of said upper compartment in transverse cross-section bein generally in the shape of a segment of a circle, there being a first opening in one end of said upper compartment; 2, plate positioned in the lower portion of said upper compartment and extending from side to side and end to end of said upper compartment and means for securing said plate permitting removal of the plate; an elongated vacuum bottle positioned above said plate and in said upper compartment, said bottle having an open end positioned near said first opening, the outline of said bottle in transverse cross-section being generally in the shape of a segment of a circle with rounded edges; a cup covering said first opening and threaded means on said cup and said upper compartment securing said cup in position; resilient pads positioned above and below said bottle between the bottle and the adjacent surfaces of said upper compartment and said plate; a large vacuum food container positioned in one end of said lower compartment and two small vacuum food containers positioned side by side in the other end of said lower compartment; partitions in said lower compartment separating said food containers; resilient pads positioned below and at each side of each vacuum food container between the containers and the adjacent surfaces of said lower compartment and said partitions; resilient strap means passing over each food container and removably secured to the walls of said lower compartment and to said partitions; said food containers each having a lower dish portion and an upper lid portion, each dish and lid portion being of double walled, vacuum type construction; gaskets secured to the upper edge of. said dish portions and the adjacent surfaces of said lid portions and coa-cting to seal said food containers.

WJLF'RED KESSELL, JR.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 298,340 Berghofer May 13, 1884 1,901,534 Redfield Mar. 14, 1933 2,501,894 Eide Mar. 28, 1950 2,511,710 Hetzler et a1. June 13, 1950 2,591,151 Hansen et a1. Apr. 1, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 294,298 Great Britain July 26, 1928 

